Proximus Partners with Infosys to Simplify and Digitize its Enterprise Solutions Ecosystem

Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services today announced that it has been selected by Proximus, the largest telecommunications company in Belgium, to implement Excite – a business transformation program aimed at delivering superior digital customer experiences for its enterprise clients. The multi-year program will strengthen Proximus’ leadership in the professional services market by replacing legacy IT systems, streamlining processes and deploying advanced tools for quoting, selling, ordering, billing, invoicing and more.

As part of this program, Infosys has been entrusted with the joint overall responsibility and ownership of the Greenfield Excite program, which includes simplifying and remodelling the company’s portfolio of products for the professional services market, realigning business processes and organization around it, and digitizing business transactions. To achieve this, the program will consolidate more than 40 legacy IT systems into six new robust platforms to enable better product lifecycle management.

 Program highlights

·         Cloud-based solutions implemented by Infosys, including Salesforce, CloudSense and ServiceNow, will modernize legacy applications

·         Process automation will deliver ‘first time right’ service, thereby eliminating errors and rationalizing service costs

·         Leveraging Infosys digital capabilities, a user-friendly portal will be developed to enable self-service for enterprise customers and partners

·         Excite will leverage concepts of design thinking that embrace customer feedback and will contribute towards delivering a superior customer experience. In addition, agile IT methodologies such as Test Driven Development, Behaviour Driven Development and Pair Programming will improve responsiveness and simplify customer-oriented processes

·         A change management process enabled by Infosys will ensure business continuity while managing the interests of external partners and 6,000+ internal users

·         The standardized landscape, processes and organization will boost enterprise efficiencies and accelerate the lead-to-cash cycle

·         Remodelling the Enterprise Business Unit portfolio (comprising fixed, mobile and ICT products) will improve design, delivery and servicing across the product catalogue

Bart Van Den Meersche, Chief Enterprise Market Officer, Proximus, said, “At Proximus, we are committed to providing best-in-class products and service to our clients and partners. With this in mind, we have embarked on the Excite business transformation program that will further enhance and deliver new digital experiences for our enterprise clients. In the course of the next years, we want to manage all professional products through easy-to-use digital interfaces.”

Geert Goethals, Chief Information Officer, Proximus, said, “We are committed to our program Excite that will transform the way we sell professional services to our enterprise clients. Through Excite we expect to establish greater agility, collaboration and bring in superior quality and efficiency in the way IT and business interacts. As part of this initiative, we have entrusted the co-responsibility of transforming our IT systems to Infosys, as our teams work together to deliver objectives of this program over the next years.”

Rajesh Krishnamurthy, President and Head of Energy, Utilities, Telecommunications and Services, Infosys, said, “We are pleased to be a part of Proximus’ journey of becoming a digital services provider. Companies need to continuously deliver more value and superior experiences to its customers, and the same applies for the telecommunications industry especially given the highly competitive nature of its business. Through this program, Infosys will be leveraging its core capabilities and expertise across its service offerings to help Proxmius simplify and digitize its processes, while streamlining its product offerings and driving efficiencies.”

Canon India’s DreamLabo 5000 Witnesses its Sixth Installation in South India

Canon India, leading digital imaging organization in the country, has strengthened its foothold in the Digital Photo Printing with the sixth installation of its DreamLabo 5000. The flagship product from the Professional Printing Products portfolio was installed at Akruti Printex in Vijayawada yesterday.

The installation witnessed the presence of dignitaries like Bonda Umamaheshwara Rao, MLA, Vijaywada Central and Devineni Avinash, State TDP Youth leader along with Canon’s Puneet Datta, Director – Professional Printing Products, Canon India.

Sharing his thoughts on the installation, Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO, Canon India said, “Wedding is a lavish affair in the country and technology also plays an imperative role in making this occasion more memorable. DreamLabo5000 is a revolutionary solution in the wedding printing space and we are glad to witness its increasing acceptance in the country. With the sixth installation of the product, we have commenced the New Year on an extremely positive note. At Canon India, we continue to have the highest number of DreamLabo installations in South East Asia, which is testament to the fact that India is ahead in adopting the marvels of technology. All our DreamLabo’s so far have been installed in South India. With this region leading by example, we are aiming to transit the goodwill of our revolutionary product to other parts of the country.”

Puneet Datta, Director, Professional Printing Products, Canon India, said, “The demand for high definition photo shooting and printing in India is increasing rapidly. There is a vast opportunity for premium photo printing in the country which is led by the wedding photography segment. Our DreamLabo5000 is indeed the best imaging solution for the industry globally. Delivering a new standard of photo quality coupled with high productivity,

DreamLabo5000 revolutionizes the photo printing industry by providing a high quality alternative to the traditional silver halide technology. In addition, the premium quality printing offers both the production photo and the small batch print-on-demand (POD) markets substantial new revenue streams.”

“With markets moving from print-first to digital first, it becomes increasingly imperative for printing organizations to continue to reinvent. Aakruti Printex is one such organization, with the vision to provide the best solution of the printing quality with innovation to their customers. We are happy to partner with them for the sixth installation of DreamLabo in the country and our first in the state.”

One of the front runners in the wedding printing industry, Akruti Printex is a six year old entity established in three locations in the country, including Hyderabad, Secundarabad and Vijayawada. With their exemplary printing solutions, they have already established a benchmark for their organization in the region. Sharing their thoughts on this milestone, P. Sambasiva Rao and

Madhusudhan Reddy, Managing Directors and Partners, Aakruti Printex, said, “This is a landmark moment for us to install the Canon DreamLabo 5000 in our Vijayawada branch. Over the last 6 years, we have earned the trust of our customers, by addressing all their printing requirements. We are proud to be specialists in the photo printing space, with Photographers being our core customers. We are confident that DreamLabo is a major milestone in the successful progression of our strong customer outreach.”

Features of DreamLabo 5000

The DreamLabo 5000 is set to revolutionize the photo production printing market by utilizing Canon’s renowned inkjet photo printing technology on the production scale. With highest levels of precision printing at outstanding speeds and the absence of harmful chemicals, the DreamLabo 5000 provides superior alternative to conventional silver halide technology. The DreamLabo 5000 features a high-density print head, enabling over 300 mm wide printing output and incorporates Canon’s FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology. When used in combination with the automatic double-sided printing function up to 12x25 inch size, the DreamLabo 5000 is capable of printing approximately 1000 pages of A4 size content and 2300 pages of 4x6’ size content per hour.

DreamLabo 5000 uses a seven-color dye-based ink system that delivers smooth gradation. Employing image processing technology that makes use of the full range of Canon’s unique inkjet printing color gamut, the new printer enables the output of photo images with a level of color representation which comprehensively surpasses that of conventional silver halide.

This is the 6^th successful installation in the country and the DreamLabo 5000 has previously been installed in cities such as Kochi, Bangalore and Mysore.

UIDAI Says System Very Secure & Any Misuse of Aadhaar Traceable

The UIDAI has dismissed reports of full Aadhaar details being made available on payment of Rs 500 by anonymous sellers, asserting that its system is "secure" and any misuse can be traced and action taken as it maintains complete log of various functions.

In a statement issued here, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) reiterated that there "has not been any Aadhaar data breach".

"The Aadhaar data including biometric information is fully safe and secure," UIDAI claimed.

The statement comes amid news reports that anonymous sellers were offering unrestricted access to Aadhaar details for Rs 500 over WhatsApp.

The Aadhaar-issuing body said it has given the "search facility" for grievance redressal to designated personnel and state government officials to help residents, that too only upon entering their Aadhaar number.

"UIDAI maintains complete log and traceability of the facility and any misuse can be traced and appropriate action taken. The reported case appears to be instance of misuse of the grievance redressal search facility," it claimed.

UIDAI said since it maintains full log and traceability of the facility, legal action including FIR against the persons involved in the case, is being initiated.

UIDAI said even its grievance redressal search facility offers only limited access to name and other details and "has no access to biometric details".

"...there has not been any data breach of biometric database which remains fully safe and secure with highest encryption at UIDAI and mere display of demographic information cannot be misused without biometrics," it said.

At the same time, UIDAI said Aadhaar number is not a secret number, and is to be shared with authorised agencies whenever an Aadhaar holder wants to avail a service or benefit of government welfare schemes.

"Also, mere availability of Aadhaar number will not be a security threat or will not lead to financial/other fraud, as for a successful authentication, fingerprint or iris scan of individual is also required," UIDAI said adding that "claims of bypassing or duping the Aadhaar enrolment system are totally unfounded".  

RuPay Provides Over 350 Domestic and 1,250 Plus International Offers to Cardholders

RuPay, India’s own card with the highest market share in terms of total debit cards issued in the country provides over 350 offers across India and 1,250 plus international offers to cardholders. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) offers RuPay cards and currently there are over 425 million RuPay debit cards in circulation. RuPay cards provide premium features with offers ranging from food, travel, jewellery, shopping etc. Currently, there are over 900 banks issuing RuPay cards.

NPCI has added several offers for RuPay cardholders in the festive season. Offers are available with Classic and Platinum variants of RuPay. With wide range of variants like debit, credit and pre-paid, RuPay is poised to be the preferred card for every customer.

Kamlesh Konchada, a young professional in his late twenties, uses RuPay Classic Debit Cards from two banks. He currently works for a reputed financial services company in Bangalore. Kamlesh is a traveler at heart and often goes for weekend trips. The RuPay Classic Debit Card helps him book his tickets quickly and earn cashback from IRCTC and other travel portals. He also uses the RuPay Classic card for day-to-day transactions and shopping.

“I love travelling and my trips are planned mostly at the last minute. The RuPay Classic debit card helps me find good deals and discounts through its merchant offers.” said Kamlesh.

RuPay Platinum card also enables the cardholder to save money every time he pays his utility bills through cashback offers. Besides that, the cardholder is insured with complimentary accidental insurance cover. One can enjoy all platinum benefits apart from using the card for online shopping or at nearby stores. The cardholder can also make use of the concierge services available through the RuPay Platinum Card whenever he/she is traveling to a new city. It helps him/her to find out about hotels or travel options.  

Complimentary airport lounge access for RuPay Platinum cardholders are available at 40 airports in 18 cities in India and about 500 airports in 300 cities internationally.

Samsung Regains No. 1 Position; Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Grew 22.2% in 2017

Worldwide semiconductor revenue totalled $419.7 billion in 2017, a 22.2 percent increase from 2016, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. Undersupply helped drive 64 percent revenue growth in the memory market, which accounted for 31 percent of total semiconductor revenue in 2017.

"The largest memory supplier, Samsung Electronics, gained the most market share and took the No. 1 position from Intel — the first time Intel has been toppled since 1992," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "Memory accounted for more than two-thirds of all semiconductor revenue growth in 2017, and became the largest semiconductor category."

The key driver behind the booming memory revenue was higher prices due to a supply shortage. NAND flash prices increased year over year for the first time ever, up 17 percent, while DRAM prices rose 44 percent.

Equipment companies could not absorb these price increases so passed them onto consumers, making everything from PCs to smartphones more expensive in 2017.

Other major memory vendors, including SK Hynix and Micron Technology, also performed strongly in 2017 and rose in the rankings.

Table 1. Top 10 Semiconductor Vendors by Revenue, Worldwide, 2017 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

2017 Rank	2016 Rank	Vendor	2017 Revenue	2017 Market Share (%)	2016 Revenue	2016-2017 Growth (%)
1	2	Samsung Electronics	61,215	14.6	40,104	52.6
2	1	Intel	57,712	13.8	54,091	6.7
3	4	SK Hynix	26,309	6.3	14,700	79.0
4	6	Micron Technology	23,062	5.5	12,950	78.1
5	3	Qualcomm	17,063	4.1	15,415	10.7
6	5	Broadcom	15,490	3.7	13,223	17.1
7	7	Texas Instruments	13,806	3.3	11,901	16.0
8	8	Toshiba	12,813	3.1	9,918	29.2
9	17	Western Digital	9,181	2.2	4,170	120.2
10	9	NXP	8,651	2.1	9,306	-7.0
		Others	174,418	41.6	157,736	10.6
		Total Market	419,720	100.0	343,514	22.2

Source: Gartner (January 2018)

Second-placed Intel grew its revenue 6.7 percent in 2017, driven by 6 percent growth in data center processor revenue due to demand from cloud and communications service providers. Intel’s PC processor revenue grew more slowly at 1.9 percent, but average PC prices are on the rise again after years of decline following the market’s shift from traditional desktops toward two-in-one and ultramobile devices.

The current rankings may not last long, however, "Samsung’s lead is literally built on sand, in the form of memory silicon," said Norwood. "Memory pricing will weaken in 2018, initially for NAND flash and then DRAM in 2019 as China increases its memory production capacity. We then expect Samsung to lose a lot of the revenue gains it has made."

2017 was a relatively quiet year for mergers and acquisitions. Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP was one big deal that was expected to close in 2017, but did not. Qualcomm still plans to complete the deal in 2018, but this has now been complicated by Broadcom’s attempted takeover of Qualcomm.

"The combined revenues of Broadcom, Qualcomm and NXP were $41.2 billion in 2017 — a total beaten only by Samsung and Intel," said Mr. Norwood. "If Broadcom can finalize this double acquisition and Samsung’s memory revenue falls as forecast, then Samsung could slip to third place during the next memory downturn in 2019."

Infosys, ValGenesis Partner to Further Enable Digitisation in Life Sciences

Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, today announced a new partnership with paperless validation company ValGenesis that will bring even stronger compliance and quality management for its customers in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. Under the partnership, Infosys will integrate ValGenesis’ Validation Lifecycle Management System (VLMS) within its suite of services for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, which will be delivered in a rapidly deployable, highly secure cloud environment.

ValGenesis is a leading paperless validation lifecycle management solution in the life sciences industry that allows customers to automate the validation process fully, eliminate inefficiencies found in paper-based manual processes, while also reducing costs and validation cycle times. The ValGenesis Validation Lifecycle Management System (VLMS) efficiently manages all types of validation activities such as equipment, computer systems, cleaning, analytical methods, and process validation. The system delivers technology solutions that are fully configurable and rapidly deployable onsite or by way of a secured cloud environment.

Validation systems are still almost entirely manual, paper-based process, resulting in significant inefficiencies, higher costs and more significant opportunity for errors to creep in. They can also result in delays to life-saving medicines and procedures to patients. ValGenesis’ VLMS includes a regulatory framework allowing validation requirements to be specified in advance. Risk Management, a key component of VLMS, is integrated and flexible, giving companies the ability to leverage standard risk tools to best suit their needs. Reusability is inherent and available at test and requirement levels, significantly improving efficiency via pre-approvals. Consistency is also driven by standardization which improves a company’s compliance posture.

Infosys’ Life Sciences Practice works with 50+ leading pharmaceutical and medical devices companies, providing premium regulatory, quality and compliance services. Leveraging its extensive capabilities and experience in the life sciences space, Infosys will deploy the ValGenesis Validation Lifecycle Management System (VLMS) to its customers as a single “paperless” system that manages every activity in the entire validation lifecycle. Through this partnership, Infosys will help biopharma and medical devices customers transform to next generation of automation driven quality and compliance services which will help organizations generate significant efficiencies and allow them to focus on their core business.

Sangita Singh, Executive Vice President and Head, Healthcare & Lifesciences, Infosys,said, “Healthcare is potentially the world’s most stringently-regulated industry. The huge volumes of highly-sensitive information that biotech and life sciences firms generate is subject to incredibly strict standards – for example, recording the outcomes from clinical trials. The digitization of the industry to ensure better data and document accuracy is incredibly important for many ethical, legal and business reasons, with auditors and regulators demanding that data regarding equipment, computer systems, processes, and outcomes be properly recorded and validated. ValGenesis is pioneering paperless validation, and our new partnership will bring significant savings and much better compliance to our customers.”

Narayan Raj, VP Sales at ValGenesis, said, “Infosys’ long pedigree in life sciences makes them the perfect partner for ValGenesis as we seek to transform validation for the life sciences and biomedical sectors. Infosys has a comprehensive understanding of the pressures faced by these firms, such as the demand for reducing costs, optimising efficiency, and ensuring that they meet the most stringent regulatory requirements. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership, with ValGenesis’ technology complementing Infosys’ product set to redefine the way that biopharma firms conduct their business, optimising patient safety, and helping to bring new treatments to the public as quickly and safely as possible.”

ofo and Pune Municipal Corporation Sign MoU to Put its Bicycle Plan into Motion

ofo, the world’s first and largest station-free app based bike-sharing platform, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to support the Pune Cycle Plan – a comprehensive bicycle master plan for integrated city-wide cycle tracks across Pune.

Prepared with support from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, the Pune Cycle Plan sets out to create the necessary infrastructure for proper cycle tracks, a city-wide cycle network, seamless public sharing bicycle schemes and development of cycle promotion activities for encouraging the use of this eco-friendly mode of transport.

Mobility has become a major civic issue in Pune recently as facilities for public commuting have not kept pace with the city’s growth. As per PMC’s Environment Status Report 2016-17, with 700 private vehicles being added to the roads every day, the city’s vehicle population is now equal to its human population. This rapid rise in vehicular traffic is leading to air pollution, health problems, accidents, and wastage of time in traffic congestion. Recognizing this, the PMC has come up with the Pune Cycle Plan as part of its Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP).

Rajarshi Sahai, Director of Public Policy & Communications, ofo said, “We are delighted to partner with the city of Pune. We wish to improve its quality of life in the city by providing a healthier, quicker, and greener alternative to motor vehicles. Our station-free bike-sharing concept has improved the transportation in cities across the world. Our mission is to solve the ‘last mile’ transportation problem in India’s urban areas and we see immense potential in Pune for ofo’s convenient, affordable and low carbon way of travel. He further added, “Pune’s approach to have global bicycle sharing operators bring in the bicycles, while the city builds infrastructure and parking to meet deployment is an example in role clarity for public and private sector. We are delighted by the support we have received here and we do plan to deploy in Pune soon.”

Speaking on the initiative Kunal Kumar, Commissioner of the Pune Municipal Corporation, said, “We are getting closer to our vision of sustainable mobility and healthy living in Pune. Along with partnerships for public bicycle sharing with partners like ofo, we are creating infrastructure where cycling is safe, attractive, comfortable and the travel mode of choice. As more people switch to bikes from cars for short-distance travel, apart from getting exercise, they will also help reduce traffic congestion, fuel consumption and air pollution.”

Till date, ofo has operations in over 250 cities across 20 countries alongside widespread usage by over 200 million global users with more than 6 billion efficient, convenient and green rides. This innovative bike sharing platform requires no fixed docking stations, thus providing significant flexibility for user to find and return bikes.

In Oct 2017, ofo joined hands with C40 – a network of world's leading megacities – to establish joint efforts in tackling pollution & climate change, and contribute to research focused on healthy livable cities.

In July 2017, ofo completed Series E funding of US$700 million led by Alibaba, Hony Capital and CITIC Private Equity, becoming the world’s biggest and most valued bike-sharing company.

80 Percent of Smartphones Shipped Will Have On-Device AI Capabilities by 2022

Artificial intelligence (AI) features will become a critical product differentiator for smartphone vendors that will help them to acquire new customers while retaining current users, according to Gartner, Inc. As the smartphone market shifts from selling technology products to delivering compelling and personalized experiences, AI solutions running on the smartphone will become an essential part of vendor roadmaps over the next two years.

Gartner predicts that by 2022, 80 percent of smartphones shipped will have on-device AI capabilities, up from 10 percent in 2017. On-device AI is currently limited to premium devices and provides better data protection and power management than full cloud-based AI, since data is processed and stored locally.

"With smartphones increasingly becoming a commodity device, vendors are looking for ways to differentiate their products," said CK Lu, research director at Gartner. "Future AI capabilities will allow smartphones to learn, plan and solve problems for users. This isn't just about making the smartphone smarter, but augmenting people by reducing their cognitive load. However, AI capabilities on smartphones are still in very early stages."

10 Uses for AI-Powered Smartphones

“Over the next two years, most use cases will still exploit a single AI capability and technology,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. “Going forward, smartphones will combine two or more AI capabilities and technologies to provide more advanced user experiences.”

Gartner has identified 10 high-impact uses for AI-powered smartphones to enable vendors to provide more value to their customers.

1)    "Digital Me" Sitting on the Device

Smartphones will be an extension of the user, capable of recognizing them and predicting their next move. They will understand who you are, what you want, when you want it, how you want it done and execute tasks upon your authority.

“Your smartphone will track you throughout the day to learn, plan and solve problems for you,” said Angie Wang, principle research analyst at Gartner. “It will leverage its sensors, cameras and data to accomplish these tasks automatically. For example, in the connected home, it could order a vacuum bot to clean when the house is empty, or turn a rice cooker on 20 minutes before you arrive.”

2)    User Authentication

Password-based, simple authentication is becoming too complex and less effective, resulting in weak security, poor user experience, and a high cost of ownership. Security technology combined with machine learning, biometrics and user behavior will improve usability and self-service capabilities. For example, smartphones can capture and learn a user's behavior, such as patterns when they walk, swipe, apply pressure to the phone, scroll and type, without the need for passwords or active authentications.

3)    Emotion Recognition

Emotion sensing systems and affective computing allow smartphones to detect, analyze, process and respond to people's emotional states and moods. The proliferation of virtual personal assistants and other AI-based technology for conversational systems is driving the need to add emotional intelligence for better context and an enhanced service experience. Car manufacturers, for example, can use a smartphone's front camera to understand a driver's physical condition or gauge fatigue levels to increase safety.

4)    Natural-Language Understanding

Continuous training and deep learning on smartphones will improve the accuracy of speech recognition, while better understanding the user's specific intentions. For instance, when a user says "the weather is cold," depending on the context, his or her real intention could be "please order a jacket online" or "please turn up the heat." As an example, natural-language understanding could be used as a near real-time voice translator on smartphones when traveling abroad.

5)    Augmented Reality (AR) and AI Vision

With the release of iOS 11, Apple included an ARKit feature that provides new tools to developers to make adding AR to apps easier. Similarly, Google announced its ARCore AR developer tool for Android and plans to enable AR on about 100 million Android devices by the end of next year. Google expects almost every new Android phone will be AR-ready out of the box next year. One example of how AR can be used is in apps that help to collect user data and detect illnesses such as skin cancer or pancreatic cancer.

6) Device Management

Machine learning will improve device performance and standby time. For example, with many sensors, smartphones can better understand and learn user's behavior, such as when to use which app. The smartphone will be able to keep frequently used apps running in the background for quick re-launch, or to shut down unused apps to save memory and battery.

7) Personal Profiling

Smartphones are able to collect data for behavioral and personal profiling. Users can receive protection and assistance dynamically, depending on the activity that is being carried out and the environments they are in (e.g., home, vehicle, office, or leisure activities). Service providers such as insurance companies can now focus on users, rather than the assets. For example, they will be able to adjust the car insurance rate based on driving behavior.

8)    Content Censorship/Detection

Restricted content can be automatically detected. Objectionable images, videos or text can be flagged and various notification alarms can be enabled. Computer recognition software can detect any content that violates any laws or policies. For example, taking photos in high security facilities or storing highly classified data on company-paid smartphones will notify IT.

9) Personal Photographing

Personal photographing includes smartphones that are able to automatically produce beautified photos based on a user's individual aesthetic preferences. For example, there are different aesthetic preferences between the East and West — most Chinese people prefer a pale complexion, whereas consumers in the West tend to prefer tan skin tones.

10)     Audio Analytic

The smartphone's microphone is able to continuously listen to real-world sounds. AI capability on device is able to tell those sounds, and instruct users or trigger events. For example, a smartphone hears a user snoring, then triggers the user's wristband to encourage a change in sleeping positions.